Drugged Dwarf
Explorer
There is one thing i would like to add as well:
For me, the aspect of killing New players, at level 1 is a bit stupid. for one thing, people's first ever characters are usualy not well planned or thought out. They dont really know what they do or do not want, or what they like. Hence, by killing them early on, even though you are doing them a favour, they will just make another lame character and carry on regardless. Now. What you definately need to do, is ACTUALLY GIVE THEM TIME TO UNDERSTAND THE DAMN GAME!
Look, going into a dungeon, then telling them to rall someting called a will save. then telling them that they failed and their dead, doesn't really make that much of a difference to them. at all. for one thing, they will not really understand the concept of death, becasue, quite frankly, they dont understand the game in the first place. The thing you need to do is get them from level one, to a decent level in a few weeks/months, such as level 3, 4, or 5, (5 recommended for them wizardy types, casue thats when they will really be getting into their spell lists and so on), then fully feel the urge to put them in dangerous situations.
My first ever DM (bless his crazy heart) Gradually brought us up against tougher and tougher monsters from the begining which were challenging, but not too harsh. I figured we could handle anything he threw at as. Until he decided that by having 4 trolls and an Ogrillon charge in and kick our asses at level 4 would be such a good idea... trust me. It wasn't pretty. Best thing was, thanks to some Divine intervention, be BARELY got out of there alive. I think if it weren't for the man with the Die Hard feat, my character would have been gone for good.
I had not realised how much I was attached to my first ever cleric (however badly I chose his feats) until that very damn moment.
However, if you sometimes feel like you are coddling your new players too much, here is a nice tactic to use.
Let them play a few weeks, get used to rules, skill checks, etc..
Then tell them you want to run a short one day session, at which they can make any char they want and toss him in, maybe get someone else to host it.
Naturally they will be trying to impress: now given a chance to make a cooler and better char, they will enforce their creation skills like you wouldn't believe.
Then, let them slowly get through, toughening up the traps as you go along... then end it with one hell of a Meat-grinder scenario.
There is a possiblity that they would make it out alive without breaking a sweat thanks to good rolls... which is why you have to make sure you run TWO Meat-grinder traps/fights nearly back to back. don't give them time to recover.
I find that doing this helps characters realise how easy it is for them to die... AAANd encourages some heroics in the party like you wouldn't believe.
For me, the aspect of killing New players, at level 1 is a bit stupid. for one thing, people's first ever characters are usualy not well planned or thought out. They dont really know what they do or do not want, or what they like. Hence, by killing them early on, even though you are doing them a favour, they will just make another lame character and carry on regardless. Now. What you definately need to do, is ACTUALLY GIVE THEM TIME TO UNDERSTAND THE DAMN GAME!
Look, going into a dungeon, then telling them to rall someting called a will save. then telling them that they failed and their dead, doesn't really make that much of a difference to them. at all. for one thing, they will not really understand the concept of death, becasue, quite frankly, they dont understand the game in the first place. The thing you need to do is get them from level one, to a decent level in a few weeks/months, such as level 3, 4, or 5, (5 recommended for them wizardy types, casue thats when they will really be getting into their spell lists and so on), then fully feel the urge to put them in dangerous situations.
My first ever DM (bless his crazy heart) Gradually brought us up against tougher and tougher monsters from the begining which were challenging, but not too harsh. I figured we could handle anything he threw at as. Until he decided that by having 4 trolls and an Ogrillon charge in and kick our asses at level 4 would be such a good idea... trust me. It wasn't pretty. Best thing was, thanks to some Divine intervention, be BARELY got out of there alive. I think if it weren't for the man with the Die Hard feat, my character would have been gone for good.
I had not realised how much I was attached to my first ever cleric (however badly I chose his feats) until that very damn moment.
However, if you sometimes feel like you are coddling your new players too much, here is a nice tactic to use.
Let them play a few weeks, get used to rules, skill checks, etc..
Then tell them you want to run a short one day session, at which they can make any char they want and toss him in, maybe get someone else to host it.
Naturally they will be trying to impress: now given a chance to make a cooler and better char, they will enforce their creation skills like you wouldn't believe.
Then, let them slowly get through, toughening up the traps as you go along... then end it with one hell of a Meat-grinder scenario.
There is a possiblity that they would make it out alive without breaking a sweat thanks to good rolls... which is why you have to make sure you run TWO Meat-grinder traps/fights nearly back to back. don't give them time to recover.
I find that doing this helps characters realise how easy it is for them to die... AAANd encourages some heroics in the party like you wouldn't believe.
